In the prior art, various types of portable ironing boards are known such as those disclosed in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,729,905 to Crozier discloses a portable ironing board and carrying case. The ironing board is mounted to the underneath side of a removable top cover for the case.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,483,954 to Michalski discloses a portable ironing board which can be folded up and stored away inside a carrying case. The ironing board has collapsable legs and brackets for supporting the board during use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,639 to Elder discloses a portable ironing board having a linkage which allows the board to collapse into a carrying case. The case also includes legs which can be removed and stored inside the case when not in use.
There are also known in the art combination suitcase and portable ironing boards such as those disclosed in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,604 to Bell et al. discloses a multi-purpose suitcase having a rectangular cover and body portion wherein a molded V-shaped ironing board is hinged to one end of the body portion and a molded, fork-shaped support is hinged to the other end of the body portion, the latter receiving the the V-shaped ironing board to form a smooth surface rectangular bottom. The molded V-shaped ironing board has a foldable leg with brackets to support the board in place as a contiguous extension of the cover during use. The ironing board is limited in size to the combined length of the V-shaped extension and rectangular cover. Similar suitcase and portable ironing board combinations are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,326,337 (Bell) and 3,512,620 (Bell et al.).
U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,523 to Pemberton, Jr. discloses a combination suitcase and ironing board wherein the case has a top cover and two side walls which are hinged to opposite ends of the top cover. A foldable linkage supports each of the side walls as contiguous extensions of the top cover during use of the case as an ironing board.
The problem with these prior art combined suitcase and portable ironing boards is that they are too complex in construction and, consequently, they are difficult and costly to manufacture. Furthermore, they are awkward and often difficult to use and, in many cases, do not provide enough surface on which to iron certain types of clothing.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide an improved combination suitcase and portable ironing board which is simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture and which is convenient and ease to use.
Another object of this invention is to provide a combined suitcase and portable ironing board having a retractable extension panel.